Cultivation Theory Communications & Media Research Paper

Cultivation theory
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Cultivation theory
Cultivation theory explains the impacts of excessive exposure to media, specifically television. The research seeks to determine the relationship between the rising violence among young people and the TV's content. Social scientist George Gerbner and Lawrence Gross developed the theory in 1975. The final results entailed producing an annual violence index based on analyzing Prime-time TV's violent content. Though the report received massive criticism, the results were that the effects of airing violent content hugely impacted how young people view society (West & Tuner 2010). However, enormous violent content is not a reflection of real culture. Formulating the cultivation theory explains how heavy television viewing led to the consolidation of certain ideas in people's minds.
Concepts of the theory
Cultivation theory relates to several concepts tailored for heavy users, including the mainstreaming concept, indicating that television is the main source of information and discoveries worldwide. This concept's impact is young individuals' tendency to construct social realities based on contents viewed, thus hindering discovering the actual external facts (West & Tuner 2010). Resonance as a concept of the cultivation theory applies when the content aired reflects the active viewers' current situation, denying them hope in real-life disasters. Another idea is the Mean World Index. Exposure to TV content that projects violence increases the perception that the world is mean and insecure. Most young people fail to develop trust for others and think only of themselves.
Hypothesis and evolution of the theory
The cultivation theory has three hypotheses. TV is pervasive and easily accessible, presuming that television is different from other forms of mass media. Operating a TV is simple, thus requires no literacy (Morgan et al. 2015). Also, the cost of obtaining television is low compared to other forms of media. Secondly, heavy television consumption shapes the thinking and relationships in society. The last hypothesis is that the effects of television consumption are limited to ...